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Flowing Water On Mars' Surface May Just Be Rolling Sand Instead (theverge.com)
Two years ago, NASA made a big splash when it announced the discovery of flowing water on the surface of Mars. Unfortunately, according to new research from the U.S. Geological Survey, the surface features that NASA thought were made up of liquid water may actually be flowing grains of sand instead. The Verge reports: The features in question are dark streaks that show up periodically on Martian hills, known as recurring slope lineae, or RSLs. When one of NASA's spacecraft, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, studied these lines more closely, it found that the RSLs were made up of hydrated salts -- meaning they were mixed with water molecules. At the time, NASA thought that was significant evidence that flowing liquid water caused these bizarre streaks. But researchers at the USGS say these features look identical to certain types of slopes found on sand dunes here on Earth. Those slopes are caused by dry grains of sand flowing downhill, without the help of any water. It's possible the same thing is happening on Mars, too. Since liquid water is key for life here on Earth, many thought these strange lines of flowing water may help support life on the Martian surface. But now these RSLs may not be the best place to look for life anymore.
Well that does it, I'm out.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
Given the atmospheric pressure, and the temperature, it was highly unlikely that they had any flowing liquid water anyway.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
We've been going Antarctica for over a century now, and we have yet to set up a remotely self-sufficient Colony there. And it has things that Mars lacks, like Water, an Atmosphere, a warmer Climate, and Polar Bears... well... Penguins actually. What does Mars have? Lots of Sand, and no Magnetic Field to divert slightly greasy Solar Atoms.
Which brings up the fact that Penguins are largely self-sufficient and happy there. They may not fly much, and their diet is limited, and on top of that, they have Penguin Breath. But we can learn a lot from them. They go for months without eating, they are warm enough, and they seem to quite enjoy Penguin Sex... even with all that Halitosis. Sociologically, Emperor Penguin Daddies babysit while the Girls have a Season Out. This is not as hedonistic as it would appear, since Emperor Penguins mate for life. They have fine Family Values.
I do wish that the Space Nutters would stop reading crappy Science Fiction and dream of nailing Podkayne on Mars. Antarctica is perfect for them. In fact, it could be a Libertarian Paradise. Antarctica has no Taxes, no Police, and not even a Currency. They could have their own Monetary System, based on the Frostbitcoin.
And it's White. Very, very White.
People already knew that sand/dust can cause similar features. They believed (and still believe) that this is indicative of flowing water because of seasonality, temperatures, and association with hydrated minerals. We won't know for certain until we observe flowing water more directly, of course.
They’ve been sending probe after lander after probe for decades now trying to prove there is or once was life on Mars. The battle between Science and Religion played out across the planets. Like the believers would ever be dissuaded by any scientific facts.
There is an international agreement on not contaminating Mars until we know that there isn't life there.
If you are sure that there isn't life on Mars then it is still of interest to prove it so that future missions there doesn't have to worry about it.
(Unfortunately saying that there isn't life on Mars is a bit like saying that there isn't a God. There is always another rock you haven't looked under so he might be there. You can only prove that something exist, not that it doesn't.)
Right. So rather than the Big Bang coming from basic rules of physics that "just are", it's instead supposed to come from an infinitely more complicated being that "just is"?
Why hello Occam!
We gotta go to a crappy town where I'm a hero.
Doesn't mean its your God though. Or even a human God. Or even something you'd recognise as a God. In fact if we accept your proof at all then it pretty much disproves the existence of YOUR God.
Right. Totally the same thing. So if I was walking in the woods and three rocks just happened to be in a row, "They just happened to be that way" makes totally as much sense as "There's an invisible troll living in the woods who arranged these rocks at night."
(If you want my personal viewpoint: it's a combination of "all basic sets of rules exist in different universes" combined with the weak anthropic principle)
We gotta go to a crappy town where I'm a hero.
You do realize the existence or non- of life elsewhere has no bearing on religion? The Catholics already have set up a protocol if any is found.
So we want to get into the history of Occam's razor rather than it's actual definition as used in modern English? Because Ockam never actually posited "Occam's Razor", and even the quote you cite appears to have only pertained to the subject of miracles and God's power. Rather, Ockam was frequently known to have used Occam's Razor as a debating technique, rejecting complex ideas in favour of simpler ones.
Furthermore, you need to be clear on what is meant when discussing plurality. Are you honestly suggesting that if I saw an anthill that a "a huge number of ants made it" would be a less logical answer than "a single invisible unicorn coughed it into existence out of fairy dust"?
Lastly, you absolutely can make statistical tests for the power of prayer. They just don't give you the answer that you're wanting.
We gotta go to a crappy town where I'm a hero.
> I wonder why these similarities and possibilities have never been considered in the drive to prove that water existed or exists on Mars.
I'm just going to throw this out there - when you're talking about dynamic activity on another planet... the people doing this research have not only considered those things, but done their best to model them to an infinite number of decimal places.
They're looking for life, and the best way we know of to find it is to look for liquid water. So they look for possible (not necessarily absolutely certain!) water. They found something that could be interpreted as a sign of water, they worked on those theories and models for a while, and now they're finding it more likely it's not water.
That's science. It not only doesn't get everything right on the first guess, the process doesn't even claim to.